Note : the following text discusses the administrative history of the European part of the Russian Empire
without Finland, Congress Poland and
the Russian Caucasus, areas which are discussed elsewhere at WHKMLA.

Demographic History of the Russian Empire M.E. Falkus (p.17) gives the population of the Russian Empire as 14 million in 1722, 19 million
in 1762, 35.5 million in 1800, 74.1 million in 1860, 126.4 million in 1897 and 170.1 million in 1913. Jan Lahmeyer has compiled lists
showing the (partially interpolated) population development for what is Belarus,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Moldova, Russia and Ukraine today respectively,
year by year, back into history, for Russia until 1897. It is important to keep in mind
that the figure given for 1897 is that for the territory of the present Russian Federation in 1897, not that for the Russian Empire at that time.
While the data for the entire Russian Empire exceed the population of European Russia as defined on this page, those Jan Lahmeyer lists in his
extrapolated line of data on one side includes the population of the Caucasus, Central Asia and Siberia regions, on the other hand excludes the
populations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Eastern Karelia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova.

Demographic Data of European Russia Jan Lahmeyer also gives population development by census for administrative divisions, in the case of Russia and Ukraine by gubernia, reaching as
far back as 1810. Similar data (less dense) are given by B.R. Mitchell (IHS pp.57-58), providing data for Belarus, Reval,
Livonia, Courland, Kovno
Gubernia not given by Lahmeyer.
Both Lahmeyer and Mitchell (IHS pp.72-74) provide data for the population development of cities, the latter
source being more selective than the former.

Demographic Development of European Russia by Gubernia

In the first half of the 19th century, population growth was markedly slower than in the second half. The map of the left shows that most regions saw a population
growth of less than 50 %; Kaluga, Pskov, Smolensk and
Yaroslav Gubernias even experienced negative population growth. Moscow and
St. Petersburg Gubernias showed a higher population growth of more than 50 %, which is to be explained by urbanization.
Extraordinary population growth took place in the frontier region - Bessarabia Oblast, the Don Cossack Host,
Kherson, Taurida, Simbirsk,
Saratov, Samara, Ufa, Orenburg Gubernia.
The map on the right shows that population growth accelerated across the board; all gubernias experienced population growth of at least 50 %;
Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev Gubernias showed stronger
population growth than in the previous period, again to be attributed to urbanization; the population growth
in the frontier region remained high, in Ekaterinoslav Gubernia it accelerated. Vitebsk,
Mogilev, Minsk and Volhynia saw extraordinarily high
population growth.

Ethnic Composition of the Population of European Russia

The map features an attempt to show the distribution of ethnic groups within European Russia and beyond on the eve of World War I. The Russian ethnicity
from the 16th century onward has expanded from core Russia (Grand Duchy of Muscovy) in southern, eastern and northern direction. The map simplifies
the actual situation, as the colours reflect the majority population (many areas had mixed population), the colours displaying Finno-Ugric, Siberian respectively
Caucasian and Central Asian peoples fail to differentiate between a number of peoples, and they fail to express the degree of assimilation into Russian
culture, merely featuring the language spoken. The map also does not reflect population density.

In the first half of the 19th century, Russia continued to attract immigrants, mainly peasants, from Germany and the christian population on the Balkan peninsula,
then under the rule of the Ottoman Empire (Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs etc.). The immigrants established communities
in frontier country - Bessarabia Oblast, Kherson, Taurida,
Ekaterinoslav, Saratov Gubernia (Volga Germans). These immigrants were granted
privileges, treated as freemen (while the vast majority of Russian peasants still were serfs), maintained their original religion (f.ex. Lutheran or Mennonite Germans)
and languages.
Russia was especially interested in attracting entrepreneurs as immigrants; while they were comparatively few in numbers, they contributed to the development
of Russia's nascent industries. Many of them assimilated into the Russian culture.

Emigration

Until the reign of Catherine the Great, the policy in the Russian Empire regarding ethnic minorities had been forced assimilation, mainly enforced by the Russian
Orthodox Church. Catherine the Great decreed religious toleration in 1773, which allowed for the organization of the Islamic community among the Volga Tatars,
Bashkirs etc., granted legal status to the Jewish community acquired in the First Polish Partition of 1772 and allowed for the immigration of non-Orthodox
immigrants which were needed to settle vast stretches of frontier land.
This policy of religious toleration was officially maintained, but neither the Russian Orthodox Church nor many in the Russian administration embraced it.
Pressure exerted on them caused a large part of the (Muslim) Crimean Tatar population (Taurida Gubernia) to emigrate in waves
in 1853-1856, 1860-1863 and 1877-1878. The Bashkir lands (Ufa Gubernia), under Alexander II., were exposed to "wholesale
plundering of Bashkir lands under Alexander II." (EB).
In 1881, Czar Alexander III. proclaimed the motto "One Czar, One Language, One Faith", which launched the policy of Russification; instruction in languages
other than Russian was banned in the Russian Empire. This policy caused the exodus of part of the population the ancestors
of whom had immigrated under the promise that they were allowed to maintain their religion and language (Volga Germans). This trend was enforced when
mandatory mlitary service was introduced in 1887, causing not only the exodus of many of Russia's (ethnically German) Mennonites, but also of part of the
(Russian) Doukhobor community.
The large Jewish population Russia had acquired in the process of the Polish Partitions had been subject to discrimination by state authorities from the
beginning; by law they were restricted to residing within shtetls within the Pale of Settlement. Alexander III. blamed the assassination of his father on the Jews, had
the Jewish residents of Moscow expelled, and condoned, if not orchestrated, occasional pogroms against the Jewish population of individual cities, a policy
continued under his successor Nicholas II., triggering the exodus of part of the Russian Empire's Jewish population.
Most emigrants did not want to emigrate, they were coerced to emigrate, by violation of the law committed or at least condoned by state authorities.

Urbanization

Population Growth of Major Cities in European Russia, 1800-1910 (after IHS pp.72-74)